Tech wrap: Car companies bet on ridesharing

Car makers teaming up with ride sharing companies could prove to be one of the most important developments in automotive history.

2016 may be remembered as the year car companies got on board with ridesharing, anticipating a fundamental shift in the way people approach personal transport.

Several car companies have gone on the record saying they expect their relationship with drivers to change, particularly as cities become increasingly condensed and connected. Some predict that people will buy cars in smaller numbers as congestion increases and services such as Uber grow, while the effect of self-driving cars on private transport is yet to be seen.

While the automotive industry has dabbled in ridesharing services for a few years, the world's three largest car makers have invested significantly in the emerging industry in recent months. And they're not alone.

This year's developments started in January, when General Motors – Holden's parent company – announced plans to invest $US500 million in the Lyft ride-sharing service under a technology exchange that will put drivers in GM products while giving the manufacturing giant access to Lyft's digital knowhow.

In the same month, Ford gave reporters a glimpse at its own ridesharing service, currently under development with IBM. Only Ford employees in Detroit can use the app, which combines ride-sharing elements with new computer modelling techniques to find the fastest and most efficient ways to get people from A to B.

The push toward ridesharing ramped up this week as Toyota bought a stake in Uber, putting together a deal that will allow drivers to pay for Toyota vehicles with their earnings from the ride-sharing service.

Toyota hasn't revealed how much it spent with Uber, or exactly when the arrangement will come to Australia. A local spokeswoman for the brand says that while Toyota does not have immediate plans to link with Uber in Australia, the arrangement "presents new opportunities for both Toyota Australia and Toyota Financial Services".

Shigeki Tomoyama, a senior manager at Toyota, says the partnership is about broadening Toyota's horizons.

"Ridesharing has huge potential in terms of shaping the future of mobility," he says.

"We would like to explore new ways of delivering secure, convenient and attractive mobility services to customers."

Volkswagen followed Toyota's announcement by investing $US300m in Gett, an Uber rival with a decent following in Europe, where VW sells far more cars than its larger Japanese rival.

BMW invested in Scoop this week, a service that allows people who work close to each other to carpool with nearby strangers.

Mercedes-Benz launched Via, a similar service in 2015. Daimler, Mercedes' parent company, bought ridesharing services RideScout and MyTaxi in 2014, while BMW started opened its own service, ReachNow, in some cities in April.